On Saturday night, the Seattle Mariners will finally retire Randy Johnson's No. 51 in a ceremony at T-Mobile Park. He'll join Ken Griffey Jr. (24), Edgar Martinez (11), Jackie Robinson (42) and Ichiro Suzuki (51) as the only players in team history to have their numbers retired.

It's taken a long time to get to this point, as Johnson last pitched for the Mariners in 1998 and was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2015. There was some previous bad blood over Johnson's exit in 1998, but that has since quelled in the John Stanton ownership era.

One of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Johnson spent parts of 10 seasons in Seattle, arriving in 1989. He won 130 games in the Pacific Northwest - the most of any franchise he played for - and also had a 3.42 ERA, which was excellent for the offense-heavy time period in which he played. He won the Cy Young Award and led Seattle to its first-ever playoff appearance in the 1995 season. Johnson made the All-Star Game five times with the M's, and he also tossed a no-hitter.

He won five Cy Young awards in total, making 10 All-Star Games. He's a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, though he's there as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

All that said, it's great to see Johnson get the ultimate recognition from the organization, and it's great that the fanbase will get the chance to properly applaud him as he's deserved for a long time.

I said the following on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose' podcast:

"I am glad that it's happening for the fanbase. I am glad that it's happening, most importantly, for Randy Johnson, because Randy Johnson deserves his flowers...

Randy Johnson deserves his praise from Mariners fans, and he deserves to get a proper kind of adoration from Mariners fans. And I imagine that a lot of you are guilty of this in the same way that I am. Randy Johnson should be mentioned and thought of in the same class as the Ken Griffey Jr.'s, Edgar Martínez, and Jay Buhners' of the world. Dan Wilson.

Randy Johnson is part of the group. He is one of the Mariners' first ever superstars. He is the most dominant pitcher the Mariners have ever had. You may think that Félix Hernández was better, was better for a longer period of time, was a Mariner for longer. That is all true, but there was nobody more dominant than Randy Johnson at a time when hitting was more dominant as well.

Randy Johnson was one of the first true superstars of this franchise. He's the most dominant pitcher this franchise has ever had. He is one of the guys that helped save baseball in this city. The reason we have a Mariners to root for is because of 1995, and Randy Johnson is a huge figure in that 1995 season, and the things that led to the 1995 season.

I think pitchers are inherently less popular than guys that play every day. He wasn't as—he didn't have the smile that Junior had. He didn't have the personality that Jay had. He didn't have the personality that Edgar Martínez had, or Tino Martínez had when he was here. So, I think Randy Johnson was harder to latch onto in the moment for Mariners fans.

I know that he wasn't the guy that I gravitated towards as a kid, but he is every bit as important to the legacy of Seattle baseball as those guys are. And I'm glad that he's going to be recognized for his contributions, because there is no Mariners without Randy Johnson."

First pitch between the Mariners and Kansas City Royals is set for 6:40 p.m. PT. The ceremony will air before that on Mariners.TV.

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